01/22/2022
Cold Blooded Industries (CBI) has a small non-profit sanctuary under its umbrella that holds many of the permits for our wildlife here in Okeechobee. Through lifelong dedication, hours of work and experience and passion for animals these wildlife permits are obtained through state MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife and federal services, USFWS Migratory Birds and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Animals are acquired by a variety of means, donations, trade, rescues, all fall under these permits, we are legally responsible for their care. An option we have is to help institutions with displaying wildlife, with the hope of giving them a caring home and being education ambassadors. CBI held permits until recently for Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium. In addition to providing all wildlife for exhibits, CBI provided all educational wildlife talks, equipment, exhibit materials, and a wealth of wildlife knowledge. All the animals were under CBI’s permits, meaning again they are ours by definition of the permits. Unfortunately, Calusa’s management,Kaitlin Danks and Connie Bennet-Martin Connie GS Martin, have chosen not to give back our animals.
How does something like this happen?
CBI had a business contract which should have protected CBI’s property but manager Kaitlin Danks and executive board members, Connie Bennet-Martin, David Yates, Mike Nolan, Jim Reynolds, Malka Spektor, Mike McCauley, Britta Southbranch, and Dr. Bill Hammond chose not to honor the contract. Before the scheduled time CBI would pick up our animals one board member went to extreme lengths. The new executive board president for Calusa, Connie Bennet-Martin has been brought on charges for falsifying documents to steal our iguana. Citation . Why this matters is that we are legally responsible for the animals under our care by law! We now have no idea where this animal is and how it is being cared for, it’s a complete violation. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Calusa has done to CBI.
In addition, they refused to return over $50,000 worth of animal items and tools, equipment, and materials that CBI paid for out of pocket for years.
As for the animals, CBI has all bills of sales, permits, surrender forms and everything else you can imagine showing our ownership. The loophole they have decided to employ is one they learned from another organization, the The Wonder Gardens, by simply trespassing CBI and refusing to relinquish our property back to us. CBI held the wildlife permits at the Wonder Gardens as well, several animals of ours are still there including the flamingos and various reptiles. It’s a very odd sentence to write, because we are not talking about an item or document, we are talking about a living breathing creature that is required by state/federal agencies that you must be able to prove you can take care of them. It becomes a civil matter, so these said agencies can either help fight for us or turn a blind eye and say it’s not their problem….Of course these businesses can obtain another permit holder that is not the issue, it’s agencies like the FWC and U.S FWS bending rules and not having consistency in their enforcements. It’s bigger businesses thinking they can bully and steal to get what they want from a “lesser” business in their eyes. The same business that supported and let you display these amazing animals….
It’s very frustrating to work and dedicate your life to your passion, go through all the proper channels to obtain the required permits only to have everything stolen. To know businesses like Calusa have had extensions in time for new permit holders, FWC officers “not wanting to get involved”, fast tracking documents, and having conversations with unpermitted individuals about the fate of our animals.
In our opinion the FWC cannot apply some of the rules to some individuals and institutions and then have a completely different set of rules for others, this is a complete injustice. There should be no guesswork on their parts, either you have what you need during the correct time frame, or you don’t. Our guess is internal politics at work, individuals not being held accountable and agencies that need to be scrutinized with how they conduct themselves. It’s the smaller organizations and individuals that are damaged most in these processes and what most are forgetting it’s the animals that ultimately suffer. We have dedicated hours upon hours in training ourselves with knowledge, proper handling techniques, and years of bonding with these animals to give them the best lives possible, that’s what makes us qualified to make these life decisions for them!
The only way forward for us is through court battles. Everyone knows that for a small non-profit it will take hard earned money, that should be going to the betterment of the animals, it will go to court fees.
The easy solution to all of this is that Calusa Nature Center releases our animals back to Cold Blooded Industries. After years of support, knowledge, hours of work, and amazing animals we provided that helped your business survive and thrive we are asking for the same courtesy.
By continuing to support these businesses you are enjoying stolen animals. There is a way for you to help! We ask that you call, write, comment, Calusa Nature Center and let them know this is not ok and ask them why you would want to hurt the very animals you claim to care about and return them to their rightful owners.
We will hold all parties accountable for their part to play in this and hopefully no one and no animal must endure what we have had to. We have also learned some valuable lessons in this and plan to do better in the future with who we trust with our animals. Thank you to everyone who has supported us and took the time to read the other side.
